I even have an idea about girls and football. While most men who’ve performed soccer at a minimum level of leisure also watch the sport and vice versa, the crossover isn’t there for women. I have been playing in soccer groups, on and stale, since I was eight, but I’ve only engaged with the professional sport since 2017.
It is a deliciously exciting time for girls’ sports. Building as much as the Women’s World Cup in France in June, England won America’s believes Cup for the first time, and Barclays announced a multi-million-pound sponsorship deal for the Women’s Super League.
England is specific. It has Europe’s most straightforward professional women’s league, meaning that new gamers can feel confident dedicating their young lives to the sport for the first time. Until recently, it became not unusual for pinnacle-tier players to have secondary professions.
Elsewhere, 60,739 people turned out to watch Atletico Madrid face Barcelona last week. Over the weekend, a packed stadium was present for Juventus Women’s first sport at the Allianz Stadium.
But we must ask what we can do to make football more accessible to ladies and why it has taken so long for the significant footballing of our bodies and sponsors to help our expertise.
I stopped playing football at 14, the conventional “drop-off age, because I became involved with the wrong perceptions of women who played the sport. A couple of boys had already instructed me that I gave the impression of a male footballer.
Few possibilities
My insecurities aside, there has been a persistent lack of opportunity to play. Even the youngest experts speak of growing up playing against boys. Football is the most usually played game for women in the UK; however, proficient players can struggle to find a group in rural areas. Despite being a soccer academy, my high school didn’t nurture a ladies’ group, and we weren’t allowed to play with boys in PE.
When it comes to promoting the sport, I would argue that bringing young ladies along to watch football fits best in subcultures. Experiencing one of my first bits of overt raccoon in a football area, I began to know that (male) football enthusiasts are among the worst in their treatment of black gamers.
This no longer creates a welcoming environment for women. After that, I didn’t fancy going to matches. Although the surroundings at girls’ video games are distinct, in London at least, squads are hampered by how far away the ladies’ grounds are.
However, remarkable grassroots initiatives are finding ways to enchant girls. In London, teams, including Hackney Laces, Bend I,t Like Peckham, and Goal Diggers, are developing welcoming environments for girls to try soccer. This Fan Girl” represents girl football fans through content and community.” I Think She’s Offside is a podcast that seems to represent an underrepresented narrative in ladies’ football. She’s A Baller is a new platform selling girls’ football through video content.
Before the World Cup, I want to look at Fifa’s greater commitment to making the girls’ football subculture inclusive and open in the myriad approaches required to alter the game’s notion of being a “lads down the pub” interest.
